Zhu Rongji Was an Extraordinary Figure

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Structural Transformation of the Economic Sphere
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http://media.asiasociety.org/video/chinaboom/CB-ZhuRongji.mp4
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Zhu Rongji did not have a vision as a political matter, he had a vision in a very different way...

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<p>China was very lucky. And for me, there are two extraordinary figures. One was Deng Xiaoping, but the other was Zhu Rongji, who took China into the modern world in a way unthinkable ten years before he did it. Who had the sheer fortitude, the guts to press forward, to persuade within his own government, of that vision. It is that vision, unalloyed. Zhu Rongji did not have a vision as a political matter, he had a vision in a very different way, as a non-ideological, ultimately rational way. It is that kind of unalloyed vision, not politically directed, but directed in a manner best suited to the economic growth of the country, to the proper deployment of the nation&rsquo;s resources, to the proper reform of entities that need to be reformed, to the use of wealth in a way to achieve initially rapid growth with job creation, and then spreading that growth in the country as best as possible. These things, in sort of hyper-form are still yet to come into being.</p>
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Charlene Barshefsky points to Zhu Rongji as one of China's two most extraordinary figures. She describes how he had a profound effect on China by courageously fighting for his apolitical, rational, and unalloyed vision for China.